Scottish Executive

Agriculture and Fisheries Council

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will report on the outcome of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council held in Brussels on Monday 18 October 2004.

Ross Finnie: I attended the one day Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Luxembourg on Monday 18 October with Margaret Beckett and Ben Bradshaw.

  As this was the last Council attended by Commissioners Franz Fischler and David Byrne, the Council took the opportunity to pay warm tribute to the contribution that they had made during their time in office.

  On fisheries, the meeting opened with a public debate on the Common Fisheries Control Agency. The debate centred around a five question questionnaire provided by the Presidency.

  The UK welcomed the creation of the agency and stressed that it should co-ordinate fisheries control tasks, but that it should be cost-neutral and that the member states should retain the final say on where enforcement resources were to be deployed.

  The Council conducted a first exchange of views on the annual exchange of fishing opportunities between EU and Norway. Under the provisions of the EEA agreement, Norway is obliged to offer the Community access to Norwegian waters in order to fish for the Arctic cod stocks, for which Norway is entitled to compensation through balanced access to the Community’s fishing opportunities.

  The UK indicated a preference for receiving the full offer of Arctic Cod from Norway, but noted that any offer of compensation involving additional access for Norway to the Community’s mackerel fishery would be unacceptable. The UK noted that the compensation to Norway could still be found in the Community’s share of quota stocks in Greenland waters.

  Plans for the recovery of certain stocks in the Channel, Cantabrian Sea and Western Iberian peninsula were also discussed.

  On agriculture, the Council responded to a number of key questions arising from a Commission report on the simplification of the common market organisation in fruit and vegetables. The UK joined several delegations in noting that, while changes to the regime agreed in 1996 have had a positive effect, there is a need to look constructively at the scope for further changes, including increased flexibility and subsidiarity. The impact of the regime on developing countries and on the Doha Development Agenda would also be important factors. Further intervention in the fruit and vegetable regime should be approached with caution but there may be scope for promoting consumption of fruit and vegetables. The Commission will reflect upon the exchanges before tabling any proposals for further reform. Discussion will resume at official level.

  The Council noted, without discussion, developments on the European Action Plan for Organic Food and Farming and agreed conclusions supporting a range of further actions.

  The Commission also reported the state of play on a number of important trade negotiations. On the WTO, Commissioner Fischler welcomed the framework agreement reached in Geneva in the summer as a basis for continued detailed negotiations which safeguard essential European interests. He also reported on the continuing attempts to make progress in the EU/Mercosur negotiations on work to agree a tariff-only arrangement for reform of the banana regime and on resolving outstanding negotiations with certain third country suppliers of rice. Among a long list of many other business items, the UK and several other delegations supported a Danish request to consider how best to include low fat dairy products in the school milk programme. Several, mostly central European, member states drew attention to the problems on the EU cereals market following this year’s harvest. Other matters raised were the impact of the US Bio-terrorism Act; implementation of the reformed CAP in Denmark; state aid for weather damage in Lithuania; the co-existence of GMO and other crops; the impact on fishing of increased diesel prices in France, and the EU/Angola Fisheries Agreement. The Commission tabled a written report on continuing BSE control measures. France reported on its action to deal with a recent case of rabies in an imported dog. Spain reported an outbreak of blue tongue disease in cattle in southern Spain and drew attention to a forthcoming conference on plant genetic resources.

  Under any other business, the Council discussed the impact of rising fuel prices on Community fleets and concern over the breakdown of EU/Angola fisheries partnership agreement.

Gambling

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its powers are in respect of applications for new casinos; what powers it has to regulate, or designate, regional casinos, and how many (a) casinos and (b) regional casinos there are in Scotland.

Tavish Scott: We have made it clear that whatever the UK regulatory framework, the position of this devolved government is that new casinos in Scotland will only be agreed if they are licensed by Scottish licensing boards and regulated by conditions set by Scottish ministers. We will accept nothing less than this.

  Under the proposals set out in the bill, Scottish licensing boards will have a clear power to determine whether they wish to licence any or further casinos in their area.

  The Gaming Board’s annual report for 2003-04 states that there were 12 casinos licensed in Scotland as at 31 March 2004. There are no regional casinos at present since this is a category introduced by the bill.

Gambling

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) casinos and (b) regional casinos it expects to be opened in (a) 2005, (b) 2006 and (c) 2007.

Tavish Scott: Casino Licensing is a function of local authority licensing boards and this information is not held centrally. However, there were 12 casinos licensed in Scotland as at 31 March 2004.

Gambling

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what impact casinos have on the level of gambling.

Tavish Scott: The UK gambling addiction rate is approximately 0.6%-0.8% of the over-16 population. This is one of the lowest rates in the world. A national opinion poll published in April 2004, which was commissioned by the Department for Media Culture and Sport, reported that table games in casinos accounted for 2% of gambling amongst those surveyed.

  The UK Government intends to fund a national study prior to the implementation of the bill and every two to three years thereafter which will measure the impact of the new regime and the prevalence of problem gambling.

Gambling

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what impact gambling has on (a) public health, (b) indebtedness and (c) crime and what statistics it has regarding such impacts.

Tavish Scott: To date there has been no research undertaken on the impact gambling has on (a) public health, (b) indebtedness and (c) crime.

  The UK Government intends to fund a national study prior to the implementation of the UK Gambling Bill and every two-to-three years thereafter which will measure the impact of any new regime and the prevalence of problem gambling. In addition, provision has been made in the Gambling bill to establish the Responsibility in Gambling Trust. The Trust has been established on a voluntary basis in advance of the Bill and provides funding for the support of problem gamblers and their dependents.

  In Scotland, we acknowledge the unwelcome impact problem gambling may have on families and are particularly concerned that we can deal with the very real problems caused by indebtedness.

  In this respect the Executive is committed to reducing the vulnerability of people to multiple debt and is currently providing £4.5 million per annum direct to local authorities and other advice organisations to provide accessible local money and debt advice services.

Gambling

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its powers are in respect of the use in casinos, or other establishments, of (a) category A slot machines and (b) fixed-odds betting terminals; what action it can take in respect of the use of these machines, and what representations it will make on the matter.

Tavish Scott: These matters are reserved to the UK Government. However, the Executive has been and continues to be in regular discussion with the UK Government on a range of matters relating to these issues.

Legal Aid

Karen Whitefield (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when the report on the strategic review of the delivery of legal aid, advice and information in Scotland will be made available.

Hugh Henry: The report to Scottish ministers and the Scottish Legal Aid Board on the Strategic Review of the delivery of legal aid, advice and information will be published on 29 October 2004. A full copy of the report will be available on the Scottish Executive website. Copies of the report are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 34238)

Modernising Government Fund

Mike Watson (Glasgow Cathcart) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the final outcome is of applications made to the third round of the Modernising Government Fund and what projects will be supported under the fund

Mr Tom McCabe: I am pleased to announce today that I have been able to significantly increase the £30 million provision for the third round Modernising Government. Over the next three years I will be able to provide up to £38.45 million for a number of key public sector projects which will support our Partnership Commitment to delivering excellent public services, cutting bureaucracy and ensuring that services are both flexible and focused. These projects will also contribute towards the efficient government drive. Included in this will be:

  A further £13.1 million for the 32 local authorities to work together in their programme for delivering more efficient public services. The focus for this will be service delivery from single points of contact, providing access to secure electronic customer records (which reduces the demand for customers to repeatedly provide the same information) and ensuring that well trained customer services staff can deal with a wide range of customer enquiries at first contact.

  £4 million to further develop, encourage and promote the take up of online – self-service – transactions.

  £6.6 million to the further development of the single voluntary citizens entitlement card. This which will extend the young persons scheme to cover 12 to 26-year-olds, support our national concessionary fares scheme and help to promote integrated transport.

  £9.5 million for public sector bodies to work together to deliver a secure national infrastructure which will allow different parts of the public sector to share and exchange critical data.

  In addition to the above I will also make a further provision of:

  £0.5 million to support Dialogue Youth in providing a "challenge fund" for young people which offers them the opportunity to come forward and present their ideas on how technical innovation, improved communications and service delivery can be designed around the needs of the young people.

  £3.4 million to take forward the work already begun in the development of a secure and integrated electronic childrens services record.

Scottish Environment Protection Agency

Maureen Macmillan (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Scottish Environment Protection Agency will publish its annual report and accounts for 2003-04.

Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has published its eighth annual report and accounts today. The report contains details of SEPA’s achievements and activities during the period 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004. Copies of the annual report and accounts have been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 33955).

Social Welfare

Cathie Craigie (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how the £2 million per annum for money advice announced earlier this year will be distributed and whether the £3 million existing funding will continue.

Malcolm Chisholm: This funding will be distributed via local authorities who are best placed to deliver money advice. It will be weighted according to levels of deprivation, in consultation with voluntary sector providers and targeted towards low-income communities. This funding is in addition to the £3 million per annum already allocated since 2002, which will continue, and takes the Scottish Executive’s total funding for money advice to £5 million per annum.